The award originated in 1936 whenTurf & Sports Digest (TSD) andDaily Racing Form (DRF) began naming an annual champion. Starting in 1950, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations (TRA) began naming its champion. The following list provides the name of the horses chosen by these organizations. The only disagreement came in 1968, when Turf & Sports Digest namedForward Pass as champion whereas the other two organizations voted forStage Door Johnny.
Champions from 1871 through 1935 were selected retrospectively by a panel of experts as published byThe Blood-Horse magazine.[1]
There were co-champions chosen retrospectively for 1876, 1882, 1885, 1886, 1888, 1893, 1894, 1904, 1906, 1917, 1923, and 1932.
TheDaily Racing Form, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, and the National Turf Writers Association all joined forces in 1971 to create the Eclipse Award.
As of 2021, Bob Baffert won the award 10 times as a trainer. No other trainer won the award more than twice.[2]
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original on September 4, 2012. RetrievedAugust 27, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
